Telephone attachment.



D. Y. DONALDSON TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 14. 1914.

1,163.38 Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

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TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED DEC, I4, 1914. 6 EMenied B95. "i 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

DAVID Y. DONALDSON, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 11915.

Application filed December 14, 1914. serial No. 877,015.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, DAVID Y. DONALDSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Attachmerits; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my inventionis to provide a member capable of attachment to a desk telephone of ordinary construction, the said member being journaled upon the upper extremity of the telephone standard and,

adapted to oscillate thereon. This member is provided with a receiver and transmitter, respectively, at its opposite extremities, the said receiver and transmitter adapted to travel in unison when the member is oscillated. \Vhen the telephone is not in use,

both the receiver and transmitter will nor-- mally project downwardly, as disclosed m- Figure 1, and this is a very important feature of my invention, since it prevents dirt or other impurities from settling therein, whereby the device is rendered practically sanitary.

Another important feature of my invention lies in the fact that the member can be oscillated to apply the receiver to either ear of the user and as the transmitter travels in 'unison with the said receiver, they will always be in their proper relative positions.

Still another object of my invention is to provide tension means also mounted upon the standard of the telephone which will automatically operate to lock the member, when the telephone is in use, in the desired position of adjustment and means for releasing the said tension means when the user of the telephone has completed his conversation.

Having briefly outlined my improved construction, I will proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing, Fig. 1 is a front view of a telephone equipped with my attachment, showing the elements in their normal posithe manner in which the receiver arm is secured to one extremity of the spindle.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate the base and 6 the post of a telephone of ordinary construction, the upper extremity of said post being bifurcated to form ears 7 and 8. These ears are perforated at 9 and adapted to form a bearing for a spindle 10, the latter being inserted through said perforations. Intermediate the ears 7 and 8 and mounted upon the spindle 10 is a collar 11, the latter being secured to the said spindle to rotate therewith by a set screw 12, which extends through an interiorly threadedppening 13 formed in the collar and projects into a recess formed in the spindle. The periphery of the collar is provided with two series of notches 14 and 15 and when the spindle is in its normal position, said series will be disposed upon the opposite sides of the collar, the top and bottom portions of said periphery being plain and the bottom portion being flattened. as shown at 16 (see Fig. ti). The interior of the post 6 below its bifurcated extremity is enlarged to form a rectangular opening 17. A plate 18 is inserted in the said opening and bent intermediate its extremities to conform to the shape of the latter, forming a pocket 19 in which is located a spiral spring 20 which projects upwardly into the space between the ears 7 and 8. The extremities of theplate 18 extend above the spring 20 and project outwardly on both sides beyond the edges of said ears and these outwardly projecting portions are connected by pins 21 and The lower edge of a finger 3 rests upon the upper extremity of the spring 20 and has a downwardly projecting lug '23 formed mid way its extremities, which projects into the interior of said spring, its upper edge adapted to lie beneath and adjacent the pins 21 and '22. The finger 3 is also provided with 1 the post.

a tooth 24 located upon its upper edge opposite the lug 23 and the extremities of said finger project outwardly beyond the pins 21 and 22, the latter forming a double fulcrum whereby either of the finger-extremities may be depressed for a purpose hereinafter described. The spindle 10 when in its normal position extends upwardly on one side of the post and thenoutwardly and has a telephone transmitter of the usual type rigidly attached to its outer extremity, the mouth of said transmitter adapted to face downwardly to prevent dirt or other impurities from settling therein. The portion 26 of the spindle upon the opposite side of the post 6 projects horizontally therefrom and has a part 27 of its extremity formed square to enter a perforation of counterpart shape formed in the upper end of a flattened arm 28. the square part terminating within the said perforation and having a projection- 29 exteriorly threaded and projecting outwardly beyond the arm 28. A nut 30 is threaded upon the projection 27- and adapted .to engage the arm 28 to secure the latter rigidly against the shoulder formed adjacent the square part 27. I

The arm 28 near its lower extremity is twisted to form a part extending at right angles to the upper portion, said lower extremity being perforated and adapted to be inserted between two lips 31 formed upon brackets 32 secured to the base of the telephone receiver 33. A pin isinserted through perforations formed in the lips and the perforation in the lower extremity of the arm. whereby the receiver is. pivotally connected with the said arm, said connection permitting the receiver to normally face downwardly to correspond with the position of the transmitter, for the reasons heretofore mentioned. The wires 34 are connected with the receiver at points in alinement with the axis of the pivotal connection and are guided upwardly by staples 35 secured to the arm 28. They then pass over the spindle and down through an opening 36 formed in The wire 37 which is connected with the transmitter, also enters the post through this opening and the said wires 34 and 37 are connected within the latter in the usual manner.

In the surface of the portion 26 of the spindle is formed a recess 38 adapted to receive the upper extremity of a lug 39 which has an interiorly threaded opening. A screw 40 is passed through an opening in the spindle, which registers with the recess 38. one extremity of said screw being threaded into the opening in the lug 39 and the other extremity of the screw bearing against the surface of the spindle. whereby the lug is securely attached to the latter. When the spindle is in its normal position. the lug is adapted to engage the upper extremity 41 of a circuit-closing lever 42 to depress the latter to close the ground circuit, the member 42 corresponding to the ordinary receiver hook and connected within the post 6 in the usual manner.

In View of the above detailed description, the operation of my device will be readily understood. Normally, the spindle and its connections will lie in the position shown in Fig. 1, the ground circuit being closed. lVhen it is desired to use the telephone, the user will lift the arm 28 upwardly, thereby rotating the spindle and consequently, the collar 11. After the arm 28 has been raised to an angle of approximately 45 degrees with respect to the post 6, in the direction illustrated in Fig. 3, the tooth 24 upon the finger 3 will engage the series of notches 14, the said finger having already been depressed upon the spring 20 by the lower smooth portion of the periphery of the collar. Vhen the receiver arm has been lifted to the desired position, the user can release the said arm and it will stay locked in that position by virtue of the engagement of the tooth 24 with one of the notches of the series 14. During the operation ust described, the lug 39 disengages itself from the upper extremity of the circuit-closing lever 42 and allows the latter to rise to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2, whereby 'the ground circuit is broken and the talking circuit closed.

It will be readily understood that the receiver, in view of its pivotal connection with the arm 28, can be turned to fit the ear of the user and that since the transmitter is adapted to travel in unison with the receiver, the transmitter will always be in .the proper position to correspond with that of the said receiver. When the conversation is ended and it is desired to return the device to its normal position, the user merely has to depress one extremity of the finger 3, whereby the connection between the tooth 24 and the collar 11 will be broken and the weight of the receiver will be sufficient to pull the arm 28 down to its normal position, the receiver at the same time swinging upon its pivot to face downwardly. This movement will return the spindle 10 to its normal position and thus the mouth of the transmitter will also be facing downwardly. Also, during this movement, the lug 39 will reengage the upper extremity 41 of the circuit-closing lever and depress the latter, closing the ground circuit and breaking the talking circuit.

Attention is called to the fact that it is only necessary to keep the finger depressed until the arm 28 during its downward movement. has reached an angle of approximately 45 degrees, since the series of notches 14 will have then passed the tooth 24. The lower portion of the periphery of the collar is flattened to reduce the friction to the minimum during the downward travel of the arm 28.

Attention is further called to the fact that the spindle 10 can be rotated in the opposite direction from that illustrated in Fig. 3, the only difference being that the tooth 24 will then engage the series of notches 15. Otherwise, the operation is identical with that heretofore described, thus making it practicable to apply the receiver to either ear of the user.

During the aforesaid operations, it will be impossible to impart a complete rotation to the spindle 10, since the screw pin 12 projects beyond the periphery of the collar 11 and before the arm 28 could be swung upwardly to a vertical position, the said pin would strike the finger 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is,'-

1. In a telephone, the combination with an upright support, a member rotatably mounted upon said support, a receiver loosely connected with one extremity and adapted to have a swinging movement, and a transmitter rigidly connected with the other extremity of said member, both receiver and transmitter adapted to normally face downwardly and to travel in unison when the member is oscillated, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a telephone, the combination with an upright support, a member rotatably mounted upon said support, a receiver loosely connected with one extremity and adapted to swingthereon, and a transmitter rigidly connected with the other extremity of said member, said receiver and transmitter adapted to travel in unison when the member is oscillated, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a telephone, the combination with an upright support, a spindle rotatably mounted upon said support, a receiver arm rigidly connected with one extremity and a transmitter rigidly connected with the other extremity of said spindle, a circuit-closing lever also mounted upon the upright support projecting upwardly and terminating in proximity to the spindle, and a lug carried by the spindle and adapted to engage said lever to depress the latter when the receiver arm is raised and to release the lever when the receiver arm travels downwardly.

4. In a telephone. the combination with a base. a post projecting upwardly therefrom and having its upper extremity bifurcated, forming ears, a spindle rotatably journaled in the ears, and having a transmitter rigidly connected with one extremity and a receiver arm rigidly secured at its opposite extremity, a collar fixedly mounted upon said spindle between the ears and adapted to rotate with the spindle, the collar having its periphery notched, a pocket formed in the upper portion of the post below the bifurcated extremity, a spring located in said pocket, a finger supported by said spring and projecting outwardly on both sides between the ears, means engaging the upper edge of the finger and forming a double fulcrum for the latter, a tooth formed upon the upper edge of said finger midway its extremities and adapted to cooperate with the notches in the periphery of the collar when the receiver arm is raised to automatically lock the said collar in the desired position, the extremities of the finger adapted to be depressedto release the collar and allow the receiver arm to return to its normal position, substantially as described.

5. In a telephone, the combination with an upright support of a spindle rotatably mounted upon said support, a receiver arm rigidly connected with one extremity and a transmitter rigidly connected with the other extremity of said spindle, a collar fixedly mounted upon the spindle and adapted to rotate with the latter, and tension means also mounted upon the support and adapted. to engage the said collar for automatically locking the spindle in the desired position.

6. In a telephone, the combination with an upright support, of a spindle rotatably mounted upon said support, a receiver arm rigidly connected with one extremity and a transmitter rigidly connected with the other extremity of said spindle, a collar having its periphery notched fixedly mounted upon the spindle and adapted to rotate with the latter, and tension means also mounted upon the support and adapted to engage the notched periphery of said collar for automatically locking the spindle in the desired position.

7. In a telephone, the combination with an upright support of a spindle rotatably mounted upon said support, a receiver arm rigidly connected with one extremity and a transmitter rigidly connected with the other extremity, a collar fixedly mounted upon the spindle and adapted to rotate with the latter, and spring supported means also mounted upon the support and projecting beyond the sides of the latter, said means adapted to cooperate with the said collar to automatically lock the same and either extremity adapted to be depressed to release the collar for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID Y. DONALDSON.

\Vitnesses Maze KmnY, A. Ennu'r OBmnx. 

